Lucifer's Return
by devilbunny666
Summary: This fan-fiction takes place right after the end of Season 4. Lucifer had never planned to stay in Hell forever, but he's not the only one who is desperately finding a way for him to return.
1. Chapter One: Chloe

_Chapter One - Chloe: The Day After He Left_

"Are you okay, Mommy?"

Her daughter's soft voice snapped Chloe out of her thoughts, and she hastily turned her back so that Trixie wouldn't see her red and puffy eyes. She focused on making her daughter's peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her to bring to school, but this wasn't enough of a distraction. She could feel the tears welling up, and tried her best to gulp them down.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Monkey," she responded, trying to keep the quivering out of her voice. "Mommy's just a little tired."

"Okay," said Trixie, but she didn't sound entirely convinced. "But you know, Mommy, if something ever _is_ wrong you should talk to someone about it."

Chloe nodded, still not ready to face her daughter. "That's really good advice, Monkey."

"And if you think I'm too young to know why you're sad, you can always talk to another friend, like Maze."

Chloe felt a small smile creeping up onto her face. Trixie had always been so smart, so intuitive, and so mature for her age, like Chloe had been as a child. Chloe often wondered if Trixie would follow in her footsteps and become a cop: I mean, both of her parents and her grandfather had been.

"But just so you know, Mommy, I _am _old enough for anything you want to tell me," Trixie continued. "You don't have to hide stuff from me."

Chloe smiled again, and this time she turned around and looked at her daughter. "I know, Monkey," she said softly before handing her her lunchbox. "Now go get ready for school."

As soon as she watched her daughter prance out of the kitchen, Chloe felt all of her emotions coming back to her at full force. Staggering for a moment, with tears springing up in her eyes, Chloe gripped the kitchen counter, struggling to draw breath.

It was all too painful. She didn't fully accept that Lucifer was gone, or that he was never coming back. Any moment now, he would be barging in through her front door without knocking, a ridiculous smile on his face, and probably completely focused on whatever issues he was dealing with, that he would then project onto the case.

_The case_. Chloe always worked whenever she was upset, or needed to get her mind off things, but she didn't know if that was an option anymore. Work to her not only meant getting justice, and getting closure for the families of those murdered, but also working alongside Lucifer.

_I can't go to work today,_ she thought frantically. _I just can't. It's too painful_.

It was hard enough getting herself out of bed in the morning, after spending all night crying. If it wasn't for Trixie, she would probably still be sitting in a pile of pillows and tissues, with a bowl of ice cream clutched in her arms. But she had to stay strong for her daughter.

But Chloe always knew what was best for her child.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed the familiar number. "Hey Dan?"

"Yeah?" he asked casually. He even sounded happy. It was amazing that someone could be so oblivious to everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, to the fact that Lucifer was gone, that he wasn't coming back, that he had _left her_.

"Are you crying?" he asked softly.

"No," Chloe said firmly, straightening her back. "No, sorry, I just have allergies. And… a cold. I don't think I can come into work today."

"Okay, no problem," Dan said. "I can talk to the liutenant if you want me to, or you can call him if you want-"

"Can you take Trixie early?"

Chloe forced herself to ask the question, and she could almost see his eyes widening in surprise. She was _always_ able to take care of her daughter.

"Yeah, of course," he said. "Um… for how long?"

"Oh, just for a tiny bit," Chloe told him, trying to sound casual. "There's just some stuff I need to work out."

"Are you okay, Chloe? I know when you're upset. And not going to work? Asking me to take Trixie? This isn't like you. Did something happen?"

"No, no, no, nothing _happened_," Chloe said. It was a good thing that she had years of acting experience under her belt. "I'm just sick, that's all. Well, thank you!"

She hung up on Dan, feeling worse than before, if possible. For a moment there she had considered opening up to her ex-husband about everything: telling him that Lucifer was actually the devil, that she had somehow fallen in love with him, and that he had left her. Forever.

But Trixie was right. She did need to talk to someone about it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Chloe! What a pleasant surprise," Linda said, standing back so that Chloe could enter their adorable little home. "Come on in!"

Chloe sat down on the couch, where Amenadiel was sitting with sleeping Charlie in his arms.

"Hi, Amenadiel," she said, every fiber of her willing herself not to cry. Here was Lucifer's brother, a literal _angel_, sitting right next to her while Lucifer was down in Hell. Couldn't anything be done?

"Hey, Chloe," he said, but then looked up at her face. "Is everything okay?"

Chloe laughed, slightly maniacally. Linda looked concerned as she settled herself down next to Amenadiel and her baby. "Everything's fine."

Linda looked deeply concerned. "What happened with Lucifer?"

Chloe stared at her for a moment. Had Lucifer not said goodbye to his own brother, nephew, or therapist? What about Maze? Was she really the only one to have seen him before he left?

An awful thought occurred to her. If she hadn't went up to his penthouse to talk to him, if she hadn't asked him what was going to happen next… would he still have said goodbye? Or would he just leave?

"Did he not come talk to you?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"No…" said Amenadiel. "Chloe, what happened? Is he okay?"

Chloe took a deep breath, urging herself to be strong. "Lucifer… he went back to Hell."

"No!" cried Linda, as Amenadiel sat there, shocked.

"He said that the demons would never stop coming, and that they needed a king to control them," she explained. "He sacrificed himself to save us."

"I can't believe it," said Amenadiel. "I just can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" Maze's strong voice carried throughout the room as she walked in, her curved demon knives in her hands, narrowing her eyes at Chloe.

"Maze - Lucifer went back to Hell," Linda said softly.

"WHAT?!" Maze exploded. "He would never do that!"

"He did," Chloe said, the tears building up more. "He…"

"Without saying goodbye?" Maze demanded. "He could have at least offered to take me with him!"

"You want to go back?" Linda asked questioningly. "I thought you were over that!"

"No," Maze said, as if explaining the obvious. "I'm just mad that he didn't _think _to even talk to us before leaving. Typical Lucifer."

Chloe's heartbeat quickened. It was every much like Lucifer to disappear without saying goodbye, or explaining where he was going. Just like after she had almost died of poisoning, after they had shared their first kiss… he ran away without telling her, not caring that she was worried, to get married to some blonde bimbo in skimpy clothes.

But hadn't she done the same thing? After she had seen Lucifer's devil face, she had run off to Europe for a _month_. He was probably both worried about her, and worried that she would never come back, and never accept him for who he was. Chloe would never stop feeling guilty for all that she did to him.

"How can you say that, Maze?" Amenadiel demanded. "After he went back to the one place he hated more than anything, just to save us?"

"We can take on demons any day," Maze said, dropping onto the couch next to Chloe. "I bet he didn't say goodbye to you either, Decker."

"He did," Chloe said forcefully, but the thought of what would had happened if she hadn't gone up to the penthouse forced itself into her mind again. "He explained everything."

"Everything. Yeah, right," Maze scoffed. "When has he ever explained _everything_ to anyone? I can remember a bunch of lies he told you."

"Lucifer. Doesn't. Lie," Chloe said through gritted teeth. How could Maze, Lucifer's oldest friend, insult him like this after what he did? How was she not upset right now, crying her eyes out after hearing that he left?

"Oh he doesn't _lie,_" Maze said slowly and deliberately. "He just never tells anyone the whole truth."

"Maze," Linda said, her voice surprisingly calm and steady. "Let's not insult Lucifer right now. We should remember him from all the good that came with the bad."

"None of you get it," Maze said, standing up again. "Lucifer didn't sacrifice himself to save us. He's not staying in Hell forever. He would _never_ go back down to Hell for anyone, not even his precious detective. He's planning on coming back, he just never thought to tell us about it."

With that, she stomped out of the room.

"Denial's the first stage of grief," Linda said quietly. "It's perfectly natural for Maze to-"

"What if she's right?" Chloe interuppted. "What if Lucifer is planning on coming back?"

"Lucifer doesn't lie," Amenadiel said simply. "If he told you he's not, then he's not. I'm sorry, Chloe, but-"

"But he does make a lot of loopholes," Linda said. "What _exactly_ did he say?"

Chloe had been replaying their conversation in her head ever since he had left, and had no problem with remembering. "Well… I asked how long he was going to stay down there, and he just sort of… gave me a small smile." As she said the words, sudden realization hit her: he didn't give her a direct answer! Maybe that meant he was coming back!

"Aaah," Linda said. "That does sound like something Lucifer would do. So maybe-"

"What is he planning, then?" Amenadiel interuppted. "I don't really see any loophole out of this."

"Lucifer is _really good_ at finding loopholes," Linda told him. "I remember when-"

"Why didn't he tell me?" Chloe asked numbly, not really listening to their conversation. "Why didn't he tell me that he wasn't planning on staying there forever?"

Linda looked at her for a moment. "Everything that Lucifer has done he thinks is in your best interest."

Chloe's voice shook. "So letting me believe that he was leaving forever was supposed to help me? Leaving for two weeks, without a word, and returning married was supposed to be in my _best interest_?"

Linda and Amenadiel exchanged glances, and right away Chloe could tell that they knew something she didn't. "What?" she demanded, her voice harsh.

Linda took a deep breath. "Look, Chloe, what I think is best right now is if you get Lucifer out of your mind. Focus on something else for a little bit, until you're ready to come to terms with everything."

Chloe looked directly at Amenadiel. "Is there any way we can help Lucifer get out of Hell?"

Amenadiel looked back into her eyes, his dark brown eyes full of sorrow. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

Chloe turned away, her eyes burning with tears.

When would this pain go away?


	2. Chapter Two: Lucifer

_Chapter Two - Lucifer_

Lucifer knew punishment. One could even say he was the first to ever be punished by God - by being kicked out of his home and sent to Hell for all eternity, to be hated and blamed for everything. And yes, that was a cruel punishment, but this one was even worse.

Getting him to go down to Hell on his own accord had to be his father's doing. The ironic thing was that Lucifer had finally learned to care about others around him and to be selfless, and to anything to help them, and that had led him right back to where he started. If he had never met the Detective, never cared about anyone on Earth, then he would have stayed. Lonely and friendless, yes. But anything was better than this pain.

Lucifer took a deep breath and stared across the hot wasteland that was Hell. He could almost hear the screams of pain, the begs for mercy, the sounds of guilt and punishment… he could taste their pain. All of his happiness that he had on Earth, with the Detective, it was all gone, replaced only with desire, desire to do something, anything.

Just because he was in Hell didn't mean he couldn't have fun.

Lucifer stood up and spread out his angel wings, strangely comforted by the glowing white feathers on his back. He wasn't a monster. He didn't belong here.

He needed to find a way out.

Of course, Lucifer had never planned on staying here for eternity. He was perfectly willing to go back and get the demons under control to save those he loved in Los Angeles, but he would certainly never want to stay here forever. He just didn't quite have a plan yet.

Lucifer soared off of his throne, enjoying the slight breeze in his hair, the wind in his face cooling him down considerably. He flew around for a while, not knowing where to go, but he landed rather suddenly, having come to a decision.

He looked in through the window of the first door he could see. And there was the person he wanted to talk to, his face contorted with misery, his unheard screams echoing throughout the boundless room…

"Excellent," Lucifer said with a small smile as he grabbed the burning hot handle and pushed the door open.


	3. Chapter Three: Ella

_Chapter Three - Ella_

Ella stood in her lab, one earbud in, humming along to music as she worked. She was looking into some of the DNA evidence that had been left at a crime scene: it was a strange case regarding a young man who had been stabbed multiple times in the chest with a steak knife during a family reunion. The unusual part wasn't that a family reunion had resulted in a gruesome murder, but the fact that the victim had been injected with a lethal poison that _would_ have killed him within hours if he hadn't been stabbed. Somebody must have really wanted this dude dead.

"Families can be rough, Max," Ella said with a dramatic sigh, addressing the unfortunate victim. "Believe me, I know. I grew up with brothers."

"Who are you talking to?" a voice behind her asked questioningly, and Ella jumped a foot into the air as she pulled the earbud out of her ear.

"Dan!" she exclaimed once she saw who it was. "You scared me!"

Dan laughed briefly. "Sorry." His face fell back into seriousness. "Ella, have you heard from Chloe recently?"

"I haven't seen her at all today," Ella said, searching Dan's face. "Why, is something wrong?"

Dan shifted his weight from one foot to the next, and Ella could tell that he was weighing his options. "Well… she called in sick today."

"Really?" asked Ella, not bothering to hide her incredulity. "When was the last time she did that?"

Dan forced his lips upward into a smile. "Well, you know Chloe… I don't know if she's missed a day from work in _years._"

"Well, good for her," Ella said with a smile that lit up the room. "I'm glad that she's learning that she doesn't have to be responsible for everything. Hey, maybe a group of us should go to her apartment and bring her some soup or something!"

"Yeah…" Dan said, scratching the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't resting on his hip. "I don't know if she really wants to be around anyone right now. She… kind of asked me to take Trixie early."

Ella's smile slid off her face instantly. "Oh. My. God. That's not a Chloe thing to do. We _definitely _need to visit her now."

Dan made another good attempt at a casual laugh. "No, no, I'm sure she doesn't want to be bothered. I just wanted to ask you if she's said anything to you about… anything."

Ella shook her head. "No, she hasn't mentioned anything… but if you don't think she wants us to bother her, then I guess I won't go check on her. Your call."

Dan smiled, a real one this time. "Thanks, Ella."

"No problem," she said cheerily, before giving him a swift hug.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and Ella could feel the awkwardness hanging in the air. For the first time in her life, Ella was at a loss for words as she stared into Dan's lips, imagining the feel of his on hers, his strong arms around her…

"Well, I should get back to work," she said in an unnaturally high voice, turning away from Dan as fast as she could. What was she doing? She knew that he manipulated her through her feelings for him, and he _was_ the ex husband of one of her closest friends. This was literally the _worst_ person she could have feelings for. Except maybe Lucifer: Ella saw the way that Chloe looked at him and knew that he was taken.

"Right," said Dan before turning and walking quickly out the lab.

Ella watched him walk off to his desk by the stairs before realizing that she was staring at him. She quickly turned back to her work, trying to focus on Max, the poor stabbed and poisoned victim. She popped her earbud back in and turned her music up, intent on no more distractions.

"Ooh… who was that?" a voice behind her asked.

For the second time, Ella jumped about a foot in the air, pulling her earbud out automatically and turning to face the talker.

"Rae-rae?" she asked, her mouth dropping open. Her childhood best friend was standing in her lab, looking the same as when she had last seen her mere months ago: a bite-sized young woman with a cute little bob, wide dark brown eyes, and round glasses, with her lips curved into a smile.

"Hi," Azrael said with a wave and a small smile. "How's my best friend doing?"

"Why are you back so soon?" Ella asked, crossing the room and giving Azrael a big, bone-crushing hug. "I didn't expect to see you for a while!"

"Are you disappointed?"

"No, of course not!" Ella said, releasing her friend and giving her a huge smile. "You just scared the crap out of me, that's all!"

"You were clearly occupied," Azrael observed.

"Oh yeah-" Ella turned back to the evidence she was inspecting. "I'm working on a homicide case, and you'll never believed what happened to this poor dude at his family - "

"I'm not talking about the case," Azrael said with another one of her small smiles, looking towards the desk where Dan was sitting at his computer. "Your mind is clearly… elsewhere."

Ella turned away to try to hide the blush creeping up on her cheeks. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, Ella! You can tell me anything!" Azrael exclaimed.

Ella smiled in spite of herself. "There's really not much to say…"

Azrael snorted. "With you telling it there is."

Ella rolled her eyes. "He's just someone I work with, Rae-rae. There's absolutely _nada_ between us. End of story."

Azrael took a couple of steps closer to Ella. "Come on, Ella, it's been _forever_ since you've dated."

Ella felt the blush rising higher up on her face. "I know, I know, but a girl doesn't need a man to be happy. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"Of course you are, but that doesn't mean you have to force yourself away from him. Someone I once knew used to always say, 'If you desire something, take it.' Maybe you could take his advice."

The phrase stirred something in Ella's memory, but she pushed the nagging feeling away as she thought about what her ghost friend was saying. "That's actually not bad advice, Rae-rae. Maybe I will go for it. It _has _been a while since I dated, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to get back into the game… thanks for the advice!"

"No problem," Azrael said briefly. "And I guess now, do you think you could give me some advice too?"

"Yeah, of course I can, silly!" Ella said. "Anytime for my bestest friend. Do you need help with some ghost drama?"

Azrael forced a laugh. "No, no, it's nothing big like that. I just wanted to talk about my brother… I know you have a lot of brothers, and you seem to be a good sister to them."

Ella smiled. "Ah, well, I don't know if I'd say _that_… but yeah, family's really important to me and I would be happy to help you."

Azrael sat down on a chair. "Okay, well… my brother and I used to be really close, but then we hadn't spoken to each other for a few thousand-" Azrael caught herself. "A few thousand minutes, which is probably a couple years."

"Okay…" said Ella.

"And he's in a spot of trouble now, to say the least, and I want to help him. Or at least talk to him. He's in real pain right now."

"Go talk to him then!" Ella said. "Even if you haven't seen each other in a few years, I'm sure he'd be glad to hear from you."

"But the problem is, my Dad… he probably wouldn't approve of me visiting him," Azrael explained awkwardly. "The two of them kind of have a feud, and I don't want to get caught in the middle. _And_ I think my brother is still mad at me, because I didn't help him the first time he was in this situation."

Ella hugged her friend yet again. "Don't worry, Rae-rae. He can't stay mad forever - he'll forgive you if you go to him, apologize, give him a big hug, and offer to help him. And for your father, you should go talk to him! Convince him to forgive your brother and end the feud. Family is more important than anger or hate."

"That's… good advice, actually," said Azrael. "I'm scared, though. I haven't talked to my father in a long time."

"Maybe you need to get the whole family together again," said Ella. "With your mother, and other siblings, your father, and your brother. Like a family reunion. It should hopefully go better than poor Max's."

Azrael laughed softly. "That would be disastrous. But if it would help Lu…"

"Is Lou your brother?" Ella asked.

Azrael nodded, but she looked extremely uncomfortable, and started to figet with her hands that were folded in her lap. Ella couldn't help but feel suspicious: what if her friend was hiding something again? But she shoved those feelings as far down as they would go, trying to have some faith in her friend. "It's short for... Louis."

"Aaah," said Ella. "One of my uncle's name is Louis, and oh boy, he is - "

"Do you think that it will work?" Azrael interuppted, her hands still fidgeting as she started to tap her leg. "Talking to my brother and father? Getting the whole family together?"

"Relax, Rae-rae!" Ella said with another bright smile. "It isn't like you to worry so much. Everything's going to be perfectly fine. Just remember that family is more important than anything."

Azrael nodded slowly. "It's just that my family is… extremely dysfunctional."

"I'm sure they can't be that bad," Ella laughed. "_Everybody_ sometimes thinks they're family's crazy."

Azrael smiled. "You have no idea."


	4. Chapter Four: Maze

_Chapter Four - Maze_

The elevator dinged a second before the doors opened, and an overwhelming sense of sadness rushed over Maze, causing her to stagger sideways and almost fall over.

Everything in the penthouse looked exactly the same, felt exactly the same as when Lucifer was there. The bar was still full of liquor (thank goodness for that), the Italian leather couch was still sleek yet with a cozy, worn-down feel (though not nearly as worn-down as Lucifer's bed), and the glossy black piano was still sitting in the middle of the room. Maze could almost hear Lucifer's hands on the keys, playing out a song, his beautiful voice ringing around the room. But she might not ever hear his voice again.

_I'm a demon_, Maze told herself as she poured a glass of whiskey. _I don't get sad. Sadness is a useless emotion, really. Why waste time being sad when I can be mad?_

Mad. Maze was good at mad. She was angry at Lucifer for a boatload of reasons, but right now she was mad that he had abandoned her. Went back to Hell without a simple goodbye, without an offer to take her home. She was one of his oldest friends: sure, they weren't as close as Chloe was with him, but he had known her for years. She had to be the only one who _truly_ understood him. Chloe Decker was the one who betrayed him, who tried to send him back to Hell, and he ended up going to Hell for the _third _time for his precious detective. Maze knew for a fact that he would never do that for her.

But her anger soon ebbed away, which she didn't experience that often. It felt wrong to be mad at Lucifer when he had pretty much sacrificed himself to save everyone that he cared about, maybe even the entire world. Sure, Lucifer deserved a lot of things, but he did not deserve to be hated any more, much less by his friend.

The anger was replaced by a crushing sadness that squeezed the life out of Maze. She would never see Lucifer again, never hear his voice or annoying jokes, never see his smile, never participate in one of his orgies… but, most importantly, he had abandoned her. Maze was used to being used like a tissue, thrown aside and stomped on. It felt like everyone in her life had abandoned her. Lucifer, of course… and Linda and Amenadiel were now spending a lot of time with baby Charlie, leaving no time for her. And, most of all, Eve.

Maze knew that she could track down Eve in a minute if she tried, but something stopped her. She had said that she wanted to figure out who she was, and to spend some time on her own, and Maze wanted to respect her wishes. Not force her into a relationship she didn't want.

Maze looked around the penthouse. Within weeks a thin layer of dust would settle over everything, and the place would get cold and empty. Lux would shut down, and the young hot girls who usually crowded this place would have to turn to other nightclubs. The spirit, the fire, the passion of this place would leave just as Lucifer did.

Maze made a quick, instantaneous decision right there. She was going to be the new owner of Lux while Lucifer was gone. If he was coming back, which would probably be in years and years, he would want to have everything back the way it was. Of course, Maze had insisted that he was planning on returning when talking with Chloe, Amenadiel and Linda. But now she wasn't so sure. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there was no possible way that Lucifer could get out of Hell without endangering everyone, especially Charlie, all over again.

Or maybe… he needed some help.

Maze was willing to do ANYTHING to get her mind off of Eve, and the desperation and sadness that was crushing her. Planning an impossible mission to rescue Lucifer? Sounded perfect.

She was going to need the right team.


	5. Chapter Five: Chloe

Chloe waited until Linda had taken Charlie into a separate room to take his afternoon nap before she asked Amenadiel what she had been thinking as she mostly ignored Linda's attempts to steer the conversation away from Lucifer: asking about her job, Trixie… but Chloe just couldn't think of anything else.

"Is there really no hope?" she asked bleakly, and Amenadiel didn't bother asking what she was talking about.

He took her hand in his, and she reluctantly lifted her chin to look into his eyes, and something about his face was calm and reassuring. She took a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

"Even if Lucifer is planning something, there's nothing we can do to help him. The best thing you can do is try to live your life like normal, and pretend that Lucifer never came here in the first place."

"But I can't forget about him," Chloe muttered, ashamed to find her voice clogged by emotion and tears forming in her eyes yet again. She tried to compose herself. "I can't not worry about him, I can't not help him, after everything I've done-"

"Chloe," Amenadiel interuppted. "None of this is your fault. You need to understand this."

Chloe nodded as if she agreed, but deep down she knew that all of this was her fault. If she hadn't been so stupid and ignorant to run off to Rome and talk to Father Kinley, then the demons would never have found their way here. If she had accepted Lucifer for who he truly was, then he would still be here. How could he love her, when she hurt him so badly?

"I need to know more about the… rules… of Heaven and Hell." Chloe's voice was full of urgency, and she glanced once more at the door where Linda had left. She knew that the therapist would never approve of her plan, and would attempt to talk her out of it. But Chloe was done hurting Lucifer and staying away from him. She was done not doing everything she could for the man she truly loved. She had to make sacrifices for him like he made for her.

Amenadiel looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then spoke slowly and deliberately. "Only angels… or part angels, anyway, can travel freely between Earth and Heaven and Hell. There's no chance of you going there and coming back, if that's what you're thinking of."

Chloe bit her lip. This was a pretty major inconvenience. "But you can go there, right? To Hell?"

Amenadiel avoided eye contact as he answered. "Yes, yes I can. But I don't think it would be wise to-"

"What about Maze?" Chloe asked. "Can she just pop down and visit?"

Amenadiel shook his head. "No, she would need a ride from an angel. She's not human, so she can cross between worlds without issue, but she doesn't have a soul either. If she dies, she just… stops exising, no Heaven or Hell."

Chloe blinked a couple of times. Did Maze really have no soul? She had, of course, been surprised and terrified when she found out that Maze was literally a _demon_, but she didn't really know what that meant. All of what she read, and what Father Kinley taught her, was about the devil, not really demons. A shiver went down her spine as she recalled all the horrible things that Father Kinley had forced into her mind, the lies that he had hissed in her ear as he told her that everything would be okay, that they together could take down Lucifer…

She _had_ to make things right. She couldn't live knowing that she betrayed Lucifer, and he sacrificed himself to save her and the rest of humanity. Yes, she was just a human, a nobody, but she had to do everything that was in her power to help Lucifer.

"Amenadiel," she said forcefully, and he looked up, startled. "You _have_ to go down and talk to him. You're the only one who can. He needs someone down there, even if you're just gone for a second, so that he knows he's not alone. Please, please, please, go talk to him, and ask him what he's planning. He has so many people up here who care about him, who would do anything for him-"

"Relax, Chloe," Amenadiel said smoothly. "I can go talk to him if you want me to. Ask him what his plan is. Tell him how much you care."

"Thank you," Chloe breathed out. "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Would you like me to pass on any messages?" Amenadiel asked, standing up slowly.

"You're going right now?" Chloe asked, startled.

"Why not?" he asked. "Just for a moment. Time moves a lot slower in Hell, so it'll be like I never even left."

Chloe stood up and nodded, still breathless from anticipation and shock. "Yeah… can you tell him that we all miss him, and we're thankful for everything that he's done." Chloe bit her lip for a second, thinking of something she could say to Lucifer, what she would say if she could talk to him herself… "Tell him that I'm sorry for everything, and that I will wait for him however long it takes. Tell him that we are all willing to do whatever it takes to help him come back to Earth, and we will never give up on him."

Chloe didn't realize her eyes were closed until she opened them, and unexpectedly saw tears sparkling in Amenadiel's eyes. "Promise me you'll tell him."

He nodded once. "I promise. I can go right now, if you want."

Chloe watched as he walked out the front door, still bursting with questions. How exactly did angels travel between Earth and Hell, anyway? Should she have said more to Amenadiel to tell Lucifer? Would Lucifer appreciate what she said, or would it make him mad? Sad? Could Amenadiel bring a note to Lucifer so that she could tell him everything she wanted to say?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amenadiel walked outside and closed the front door. He made sure that Chloe couldn't see anything through the window before walking around the side of the house and sitting on a bench.

He couldn't go back to Hell and talk to Lucifer. He just couldn't. Maybe if circumstances were different, he wouldn't hesitate to help his brother out. If things were different, Amenadiel would drop everything to bring Lucifer back to Earth, where he truly belonged. Where he was happy.

But the thing was, Amenadiel made a promise. When Charlie was born, he vowed to do everything in his power to keep Charlie safe and happy. Nothing, nobody, came in front of his son. He had struggled with this promise when he decided to take Charlie up to Heaven, where he would be safe, but he ended up choosing against it. But this was different.

If Lucifer returned, that would mean Charlie would be in danger.

And Amenadiel was not going to let that happen.

He sat in silence for a couple seconds longer, before walking slowly up to the front door. He took a deep breath and tried to plaster a mixture of sadness, relief, exhaustion, and some more sadness on his face.

"Chloe," he breathed heavily. "Lucifer's not coming back."


	6. Chapter Six: Lucifer

Lucifer's hand gripped the burning handle, the screams from within like music to his starved ears. He quickly opened the door and stepped inside without a moment's hesitation.

What he found inside the room was shockingly familiar, yet not surprising. He was standing in a small room, watching as a reform officer stabbed two people, their bodies falling to the ground, their last cries echoing around the room, before launuching himself onto a spike, piercing through his throat and killing him. And there he was: the man Lucifer came to see. He was sitting in a chair, staring horrified at the scene before him, tears rolling down his cheeks as he clasped his hands together in prayer, begging to deaf ears for forgiveness. The young man beside him, his former apprentice, shouted some undistinguishable words of anger and disgust as the man continued to cry. Blood blossomed over his palms, slowly trickly up onto his fingers, and the man let out another cry of shock as he looked down at his bloody hands. His whole body began to shake as he cried.

"Hello, Father," Lucifer said lazily, a devilish smile on his handsome face.

Father Kinley looked up in surprise. "Lucifer?"

Lucifer nodded. "Pleased to see me?"

Father Kinley took a deep breath, and seemed to be trying to regain some of his composure, despite the tears streaking down his cheeks and his obvious desperation and horror. "I can't say that I am."

"What an interesting Hell loop," Lucifer said, watching as the loop started over again, and the reform officer stabbed the young victims again. "Although I'm not entirely surprised."

"You don't understand," said Father Kinley softly, unable to keep his eyes off of the dead bodies. His voice became stronger. "None of this is my fault."

"You obviously don't believe that," said Lucifer, leaning back on the wall with his hands in his pockets. It gave him extreme pleasure to watch the torment that the Father was going through, that he had finally gotten what he deserved.

"I did what I had to do," Kinley muttered, still not looking at Lucifer. "Some sacrifices need to be made for the greater good."

"You think sending me back to Hell is the greater good?" Lucifer asked, pushing off against the wall and walking closer to Kinley. "Well, here I am, and yet there's still evil on Earth. Imagine that."

Father Kinley started to shake as Lucifer crept closer. The blood started to blossom on his hands again, and he attempted to wipe the blood off on his clothes, but it stuck to him like glue. "The prophecy…"

"It turns out that we misunderstood the prophecy," Lucifer said, the memory of his last moments on Earth rushing back to him. The Detective… _Chloe_… she was the reason this all happened. But he couldn't blame her.

"Eve was never your first love, was she," Kinley said. It was a statement, not a question, and Lucifer didn't respond. "It was the Detective."

"Apparently so," Lucifer said, unable to control the smile that crept onto his face at the thought of Chloe… remembering that Chloe loved him. Truly loved him. It had been thousands of years since he had ever felt loved, or even cared about.

Kinley groaned. "But what does it matter now?"

Lucifer contemplated this for a moment. "You know, Father, most people who I visit in their Hell loops beg me to help them. Offer to do anything in exchange for their freedom. Yet you haven't."

Father Kinley smiled as he watched the reform officer kill yet again. "I would _never_ make a deal with the devil."

"Well, why not?" Lucifer asked. If he was honest with himself, Father Kinley somewhat scared him. He was used to humans breaking and bending, but Kinley was a different case entirely. The Hell loop was of course effecting him, but he was stronger than most. But he couldn't last forever. Nobody ever did. "What could you possibly have to lose?"

"My beliefs," Kinley said simply. "No matter what Chloe insists, no matter what you tell me… I know you are evil. I know that you lead humans down your dark and dangerous path, just to watch them burn. I know who you are, Lucifer Morningstar."

"You don't know a thing about me."

Kinley forced another smile. "If only I had better prepared myself… but I learned that I'm not stronger than anyone else. But I will learn how to resist you."

Lucifer let out a laugh even though he was not amused in the slightest. "Are you blaming all of this on me?"

Kinley did not answer, but watched as the blood trickled up onto his fingertips, his hands a bright crimson red. It took all of his reolve, but he eventually tore his eyes from the blood on his hands and looked Lucifer in the eye for the first time. "Yes."

Uncontrollable anger swept through Lucifer as his eyes burned bright red. How could Kinley _possibly_ still blame him after everything that had happened? He was in Hell for a reason, not for Lucifer's own bloody amusement!

"Why do you think you're in here, eh?" Lucifer asked. "Why do you think you keep on watching the deaths that are on _your_ hands, not mine? Why do you think it's affecting you like this?"

"No," whispered Kinley. "This wasn't me…"

"You don't truly believe that, do you?" Lucifer asked. "If you didn't know, deep down, that every bad thing that you or ANY of humanity is not my fault at all, but your own rotten souls destroying the world you promised to serve, then you wouldn't be in here. The doors are unlocked, Kinley. You could leave any time you want. But you don't because deep down, you know the truth."

Kinley started his uncontrollable shaking again. "No…"

"I am not evil," Lucifer said, but his voice broke on the last word. What he was telling Father Kinley could just as easily be applied to himself. He had went down to Hell three times for Chloe… but was it really to protect her? Or was it because deep down, he knew that he deserved it?

Father Kinley, sensing weakness, moved in for the kill. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm here because I have to be," Lucifer muttered. "To protect… those I care about."

A flicker of doubt crossed over Kinley's eyes. "I don't believe that."

"I never lie," Lucifer said simply, although he felt his eyes burning again. Father Kinley was questioning literally everything about him, and it brought up emotions in him that he didn't want to feel. Not anymore.

"I don't trust a word you say," Kinley said with obvious effort. "I'm immune to your charms."

This irked Lucifer more than anything. There was only one human being that was immunte to his devilish charms, and that person was nothing like Kinley. "Oh really? Then answer one question for me."

Father Kinley laughed softly. "Chloe told me all about your little trick, and I'm prepared. As long as I know who you are, you can't trick me."

Lucifer leaned in closer, and Kinley couldn't help but lift his chin and stare into the devil's dark brown, deep eyes that did not hide the pain behind them. He paused for a moment, relishing the moment.

"What do you desire, hmm? What deep dark secret are you hiding from pure evil?"

Father Kinley struggled for a minute, but he couldn't resist the the pull of Lucifer's eyes… calling to him, and the answer formed immediately on his lips, begging to be released, to be heard… and Kinley felt an overwhelming sense of relief as his desire was released from the cage it had been trapped in ever since Eve had slit his throat.

"I want… to get what I deserve."

"Oh!" Lucifer was surprised. "And what exactly do you deserve, Father?"

Father Kinley struggled for a moment, but the answer had immediately formed in his mind. "This."

A smile broke out on Lucifer's face, and all the worry over who, or _what_ Father Kinley was immediately evaporated. Kinley wasn't any different than the rest of the tortured souls whose screams echoed throughout the burning wasteland, whose self-loathing ate them up from the inside until they were just empty shells of their former selves.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your time here then," Lucifer said, walking towards the door, ready to leave. He wasn't quite sure why he had decided to come and talk to Father Kinley, but this conversation had certainly boosted his mood. And distracted him from thinking about Chloe. _Bollocks._ He was thinking about her again.

"Actually, before I head out," Lucifer said, turning around and facing Kinley, but the Father's attention was entirely on the blood dripping sickeningly over his knotted hands, "I was wondering if you could tell me something."

"No," Kinley said, his face purple with the exertion of refusing Lucifer's request. "I won't tell you anything."

"Oh, I don't want any information regarding your _religion _or your colleagues who would probably also like to destroy me, I just want to know something."

Kinley didn't answer. Lucifer took this as a sign that he should continue, but the words got stuck in his throat. "Did she… the Detective… did she truly want me gone?"

The words sounded as though they were coming from someone else… young and childish, full of foolish dreams and the insane idea that someone cared about him… someone who didn't know that he was destined for pain and heartbreak wherever he wound up, whatever he did.

Father Kinley tore his eyes from the murders, staring deeply into Lucifer's eyes. Lucifer felt the urge to look away, to hide the pain and suffering that was surely shining through, but he would never let this tortured soul dominate him.

"Why wouldn't she?" Kinley whispered.

Lucifer's eyes burned bright red, and he stormed out of the room. The echo of Father Kinley's last laugh reverbated throughout the room, echoing in Lucifer's head even after he had slammed the door shut.


	7. Chapter Seven: Chloe

Amenadiel had to repeat himself several times before the words could penetrate through Chloe's thick cloud of disbelief. She somehow found herself lying down on the couch with Linda next to her and Amenadiel brooding in the corner, clearly lost in his own thoughts.

Chloe sat up suddenly. "What happened?" she asked a little too loudly.

Linda pushed her down with a gentle hand. "You fainted, Chloe. I think you should lay back down."

Chloe let herself relax into the cushions. Why had she fainted? What had just happened?

Then it hit her like a on of bricks.

Lucifer wasn't ever going to come back.

She was never going to see him again.

"Are you sure he's not coming back?" she found herself asking Amenadiel, her voice sounding soft and childish.

"I'm sure," he said gravely, still not looking away from the corner. "Lucifer doesn't lie."

Chloe reached up a tired arm to wipe the snot pouring out of her nose. "But what exactly did he say?"

Amenadiel looked at her with a pained expression. "He said, and I quote, 'I'm never going to go back to Earth. Trust me.'"

"But Maze said…" Chloe began, confused.

"Maze was mistaken," Linda butted in. "Nobody knows what Lucifer will choose to do besides himself. Because this choice is ultimately up to him."

"No…" Chloe whispered, then found some strength back in her voice. "He didn't have a choice. He was forced to go back, forced to stay here forever."

"He chose to sacrifice himself to save all of us," Linda said softly. "And we must remember him for that choice, and respect his wishes. If he says that he's not coming back, he's not coming back."

"It can't be," Chloe said. "I don't believe it."

"You just need to move on, Chloe," Amenadiel said, his voice full of pain. "We all do."

"Mmmm… I think it might be more important for Chloe to _express_ her emotions and _deal_ with the pain that she's experiencing before she is able to truly move on," Linda explained.

"You're the expert," said Amenadiel before staring into the corner once more.

"Can you bring things to Hell?" Chloe asked bleakly.

Amenadiel turned back towards her. "Material objects, yes. Like my clothing, thankfully."

"Can you bring him a note from me?"

Amenadiel exchanged glances with Linda, as though looking for her approval. When she didn't say anything, he sighed. "I suppose so."

Chloe sat up. "Thank you, Amenadiel."

He forced a smile onto his face. "No problem."

"I have an idea," said Linda. "How about we _all_ write a note for Lucifer, and put them all in a box along with some gifts for him? That way he knows that we all still care about him, and we can all get some closure."

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, that's a great idea. I'll go get everyone to write him something. Can I bring the box to you tomorrow?" she asked Amenadiel.

"Sure," he said, his expression still full of pain.

"And we'll both write something too," Linda added as Chloe bounded towards the door, full of a new sense of purpose.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Ella!" Chloe burst into the forensics lab, waving a piece of paper and a pencil high above her head.

Ella clutched at her heart. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" But then she raced forward and embraced her friend. "I'm so glad you're feeling better, Chloe! Dan and I were so worried about you?"

"Dan was worried about me?" she asked, but then quickly remembered what she had come for. "I'm still not ready to go back to work, but I was wondering if you could do me a quick favor."

"Yeah, sure," Ella said. "But what do you mean, you're not ready to go back to work? The Chloe I know would _never_ let anything get in the way of her job."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "But I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay…" Ella said. "So what's the favor?"

Chloe handed her the paper and pencil. "Could you write a note to Lucifer for me?"

Ella smiled. "Ohhh… so this is what it's all about! Did you and Lucifer - wait… why do you want _me_ to write something?"

"Oh, just write something nice," Chloe said vaguely. "He's… leaving town for a while and I want him to know how much everybody cares about him."

"He's _leaving_?" Ella shouted, and many cops outside the lab looked up in surprise. "Sorry. Where's he going? When's he coming back? Does he want a goodbye hug?"

"He had some sort of family emergency and had to leave right away," Chloe said. "And he doesn't know when he's going to be able to come back." She stopped herself from saying that he didn't know even _if_ he was coming back, but she couldn't tell Ella that. Not when she already looked so devastated. Besides, what if he was still planning on coming back? What if he lied to Amenadiel?

Ella threw her arms around Chloe and squeezed, completing the classic Ella hug. "I'm so sorry, Chloe! This must be so hard on you! No wonder you don't want to come back into work yet. Anyway, yes, I would be happy to write a note for Lucifer, and I could get the whole precinct to do one too! Should we send him some gifts, too?"

"Yeah, sure," Chloe said. "Do whatever you want, just please get it to me by tomorrow."

Next stop, Lux.

Chloe held onto the sides of the elevator for dear life as she rose steadily upwards. This was the place where it had all started, where it had ended. Her approaching him at the piano, the soft noise of his gentle hands playing a tune on the piano as he irked her with that smile of his and weird answers… and their goodbye at the balcony stood out brilliantly in her mind amongst the blurry memories of her and Lucifer, solving murders, talking with each other, annoying each other, their lips touching as the waves slapped the sandy shore-

The elevator doors slid open with a _ding_ and Chloe almost fell out of it. As she stepped into the unusually warm room, her heart started to beat faster as she looked around the familiar place.

_Focus, Chloe,_ she told herself. _You came here to help Lucifer, not cry your heart out at his penthouse._

She walked over to the bar, pulling down drinks at random and placing them in the cardboard box she had brought with her. Lucifer would surely appreciate this. She also threw in a pack of cigarettes that she found underneath the counter.

"Well, well, well."

An unfamiliar, rough, yet also pleasant voice came from directly behind Chloe. She slowly turned around, and almost dropped her box of liquor.

Standing by the elevator was a man, probably around 6 foot 3. He had a crop of short brown hair, green eyes that sparkled like emeralds, and a strong jawline covered in a small amount of facial hair. He was muscular and powerfully-built, and his presence seemed to suck the heat out of the nearby air.

"My friend owns this place," she said quickly. "Lucifer Morningstar."

"Really?" the man asked. "And he asked you to take his stuff?"

"I'm not stealing it," she explained hastily. "I need to send it to him. He's… down south and I wanted to send him a gift."

The man sighed. "I guess I have no choice but to believe you."

Chloe released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Um, thank you. And what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm Lucifer's friend too," he said briefly. "I just came to visit him, but it appears he's out of town."

Chloe leaned in closer. "And has he shown you… his true identity?"

The man looked genuinely confused. "True identity? I guessed that Lucifer Morningstar couldn't be his real name. What, is he some sort of crime lord or something?"

"No, no," Chloe said with a small laugh. "Um… I just meant… anyway, what's your name?"

"I'm Gabriel," the man said, extending a firm hand.


	8. Chapter Eight: Azrael

As Azrael flew down to Hell, she felt a deep sense of foreboding as her heart rose up in her chest, almost as if it wanted to fly up and escape this dreaded place. As the Angel of Death, Azrael had been to Hell many times throughout her lives, but she had never really ventured past the gate.

Would Lucifer be happy to see her? The last time they talked, on Earth, they seemed to get along pretty well. He was mad at her for not talking to him or helping him while he was stuck down in Hell for thousands of years, but he sort of forgave her, didn't he? And she would be making everything right by talking to him, and telling him her plan, even if it wasn't well thought out.

As she flew over the dark, creaky gates that guarded Hell, she tried to think happy thoughts, which is what she had been doing for the majority of her life. She imagined what it would be like if Ella was down here with her. She imagined Ella's bright smile, and how it could light up the room. But Azrael knew that Ella would never be going down here.

She kept on flying until she saw a tall mass in the distance. As she approached, the warm air stifling her, she realized that it was Lucifer's throne. But when she came up to it, floating in the air beside it, she saw that Lucifer wasn't there.

Where could he be? There were billions of souls he could be torturing right now, and she had no hope of finding him. Should she just wait here? Something stopped her. She wanted to stay down here for as little time as possible, and she couldn't just wait for him to return. She had to find him.

She soared back down, her sharp eyes looking for any sign of life beneath her. But a screeching, hollering sound reached her ears from far below. She pulled into a controlled dive, heading towards the noise.

_Demons_. A big crowd of demons. Demons of all shapes and sizes, and varying degrees of loud yelling voices. There faces were torn up and bloody, their bodies crooked and misshapen. One of them looked up and saw Azrael, and shouted something in an unfamiliar, rasping language as it pointed up at her.

_The demons won't hurt you_, she told herself as she floated closer to the ground, but she knew that wasn't true. Angels could be hurt by other angels and by demons. She wasn't safe landing on the ground.

"Do you know where Lucifer is?" she asked loudly, but her question was only answered by more of the rasping language and shouts of… anger maybe? It was hard to tell.

"Come to crash my party?"

Azrael looked down in shock. Among all the demons, was none other than her brother Lucifer. A smile spread across her face as she flew down to meet him.

The demons hissed and several took out their cruel curved knives, but Lucifer waved them off.

"I don't remember inviting you to my Welcome Back to Hell party," he said, his voice full of bittterness.

Azrael bit her lip. "Lu, why are you down here?"

"This is where I belong," he said, his smile full of pain.

"No, it's not," Azrael said, trying to sound authoritative. "You belong in Heaven."

Lucifer laughed. "In Heaven? I think dear old _Dad_ made it clear that he didn't want me there anymore."

"But _I_ want you there, Lu! And our siblings, too!"

He shook his head. "Well, they've had thousands of years to tell me that, yet none of them seem to want it that much."

He did have a point. All of his siblings had abandoned him when he was thrown out of Heaven. Not even Azrael, his favorite sister, went down to visit him.

"We were scared!" she said, but deep down in her heart she knew that wasn't the only reason. "You know how Dad gets."

"Well, I'm glad to know that you all care about me so much," he said. "Thanks for dropping by. I can't say that it was a pleasure."

"Lu, don't be mad at me!" Azrael exclaimed. "I know you're upset, I know you're angry, I would be too if I ended up back here! But you need to understand that I'm trying to help you."

The smile slid off of Lucifer's face. "I'm afriad I'm beyond your help, sister."

Azrael shook her head. "No. You're going to come back to Earth right now, or… or…"

"I can't," he said simply, leaning back slightly. "I can't go back. The demons need a king."

"Then let's go talk to Dad," she said.

Lucifer laughed. "Talk to Dad? Are you out of your mind?"

"I mean it, Lu."

"Where did you get that preposterous idea?"

Azrael struggled for a minute, then finally decided to tell him. "Ella gave me some advice."

"Did you tell her about everything?" Azrael couldn't understand why he looked so scared. Was her brother actually afraid of Ella?

"No," she said. "I just told her we were having some issues."

"Well, I'm sure a family reunion would be a big help here," Lucifer said sarcastically.

"It might actually be," Azrael argued. "You never know unless you try."

"I'm sorry, but no," he said abruptly, before turning and walking off. "Have a safe flight!"

Azrael grabbed his shoulder, much harder than she intended, spinning him around and glaring up at him. Her voice was surprisingly strong for somone so small. "You don't have anything else to lose, Lu, and everything to gain! You don't belong down here, you never did, and I'm not going to rest until we fix that!"

He looked at her sadly for a moment, unaffected by her strong grip and fierce voice. "I'm afraid you're wrong there, sister. I still have a lot to lose."

Sudden understanding hit Azrael. "You mean Chloe."

He grunted, turning away from her. "Listen, sister. When I came down here, I had a plan to escape."

"I'm listening."

He continued. "But being down here made me realize how much I shouldn't go back. I'm miserable here, but… it's better than others being miserable in my stead."

Azrael scoffed. "Come on, Lu, we both know that doesn't make any sense."

He looked at her curiously. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Nobody's going to be miserable with you around, the demons aren't going to hurt anyone. We just have to go talk to Dad, and we can arrange-"

"I SAID NO!" Lucifer's eyes burned bright red and his voice deepened several octaves, and Azrael instinctively stepped backwards in horror and shock. He took several deep breaths, and seemed to immediately regret his outburst. "Azrael-"

"I don't care if you're scared of him," she said stubbornly. "I don't care if you think you deserve to stay down here forever, because I'm going to get you out whether you like it or not. You can't lose hope, Lu. There are so many people rooting for you."

He laughed. "Please. As if they're not all rejoiced that they can finally get along with their lives without me ruining it."

Azrael studied his face closely. "You're hurt that they haven't contacted you."

He grunted again, but didn't respond.

"What about Amenadiel? Has he visited?"

"No," Lucifer said, a bitter edge to his voice. "I doubt he ever will."

Azrael gave him a hug. He didn't hug her back, but just stood there, his face still turned away from hers. She could almost feel the sadness, the hopelessness, seeping out of him.

"I love you, Lu," she whispered. "I really do. I'm sorry that I didn't visit sooner, but I'm going to make everything right again. Because I would do anything to help you out of this."

Her arms still tight around him, she could feel his body shaking with unmistakable silent sobs. She held on tighter, not wanting to ever let go.

"I'm sorry, sister," he said, his voice full of emotion. "But it would be best if you left me right now. I don't want to hurt you too."

"I don't care," she whispered. "I'm not leaving you."

The two of them stood there, embracing each other, surrounded by a crowd of demons who had turned away from this spectacle. And as Azrael held on to her brother, she knew that he deserved to get out of here, no matter the cost.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Azrael landed softly on the roof of Lux, staring down at the sparkling city below, crowds of people rushing to get from one meaningless place to another, all wrapped up in their own little worries, without a clue of everything that was happening.

Before she could confront God, she was going to need some backup. And what better place to start than here on Earth?


	9. Chapter Nine: Maze

There were a lot of things that Maze would be happy to see upon walking into Lux. A party, sure. An orgy? Great. But what she did not expect was to see Detective Chloe Decker standing with a cardboard box of liquor in her arms, staring at a tall handsome man who was chatting with her animatedly.

"What's going on here?" Maze demanded. On one hand, it would be thrilling to see Chloe Decker finally get some. On the other hand, it had been less than a day since Lucifer had left. That was a _little_ early to be moving on, especially since Maze had just told her that Lucifer would probably be coming back.

"Oh, hi!" Chloe exclaimed, clearly flustered. "I was just grabbing some stuff for Lucifer."

Maze walked closer. "How are you going to send it to Hell?"

"Oh, Amenadiel offered to take it," Chloe said. "Actually, I was trying to get everyone to write a note for Lucifer, do you think you could maybe-"

"And who are you?" Maze demanded, stepping closer to the strange man as she whipped out her demon blades, ready to attack.

"Whoa, whoa, Maze," Chloe said, pushing her friend's arm down. "This is just Gab-"

"Gabe," Gabriel said, extending his hand towards Maze. "I'm a friend of Lucifer's."

"Right," she said. "I know all of Lucifer's _friends_, and you aren't one of them."

Gabriel chuckled. "We aren't that close. He just did me a favor a while back, and called me recently asking if I could return the favor."

This was interesting. "What exaclty did he ask you to do?" Maze asked curiously.

Gabriel shrugged. Ugh. So unhelpful. "I don't know, he just told me to swing by Lux so he could tell me what he wanted. Do you happen to know where he is?"

"He's in Hell," Maze said. "And I don't think he'll be needing a favor from _you_."

Chloe laughed like a demented witch on crack. "I'm sorry, what my friend is trying to say is that Lucifer's in a… bad place right now. He has some family issues he needs to take care of."

"Ah," Gabriel said, smiling at Chloe. "Yes, I can understand that. From what he's told me, he has a pretty messed up family."

Chloe laughed. "That's an understatement."

Maze ignored their conversation, and stared deeply into Gabriel's face. He stared back, completely confused. "Um…"

"You look familiar," she whispered. There was something about his face that she couldn't put a finger on. Of course, coming from Hell, she had seen millions of faces. Most of them were covered in tears and snot, or distorted in screams, so it was kind of hard to tell. But something about his eyes, his smile… it gave her an uneasy feeling.

"I don't think we've met before," he said. "I never forget a face."

This irked Maze more than anything. That's what Amenadiela and Lucifer would always say, and it bothered her that he acted like he as in any way similar to either of them. If Chloe was even mildly attracted to him, that meant he had to go down.

"Good for you," she said roughly, before grabbing Chloe's arm and leading her towards the elevator. "But we really have to get going."

"It was nice meeting you!" Chloe shouted over her shoulder to the Gabriel, who was standing in the same place, looking mildly confused.

"Hopefully I'll see you again soon," he called out to her as the elevator doors slid shut.

"What the Hell, Decker?!" Maze shouted, punching the button to go back down the ground floor.

Chloe looked unnerved. "Maze, I'm just getting a gift for Lucifer-"

"No, I mean, what was _that_?!" she demanded. "Why were you getting all flirty with that piece of filth?"

Chloe scoffed. "I wasn't _flirting_… trust me, Maze. I'm not like that."

Maze jammed her finger into Chloe's chest. "You better not, because I won't let you break Lucifer's heart again!"

Chloe took a step back. "So that's what this is all about! You still think he's going to come back!"

"Of course he is," Maze said, but uncertainty crept into her. Time moved slower in Hell, so if he did have a plan, he should be coming back any day now.

Chloe sighed. "I had Amenadiel go down and talk to him. And he says that he's never coming back."

That information hit Maze like a ton of bricks. Not coming back? Why would Lucifer give up like that? It just wasn't like him. He could have at least left himself a way out, a loophole, just in case he ever decided to return, even if it was in a couple days, a couple years, or maybe even a millenia.

"Never coming back?" she echoed.

"I'm sorry, Maze," Chloe said, and Maze could tell that she truly meant it.

"So… what? You're just going to forget him?" she rounded on Chloe again. "Pretend like it all never happened?"

Maze saw the tears sparkling in Chloe's eyes and immediately regretted what she said. But she couldn't show weakness by breaking down and crying, or hugging her friend and apologizing.

"Of course I'm not," Chloe sputtered. "I don't think I'll ever be able to forget Lucifer, or be able to move on from him. I'm barely holding myself together, Maze. I can't bring myself to go to work. I can't take care of myself, much less Trixie. I can't be at Lux, or around you, or Amenadiel, without thinking of anything but him. I've considered killing myself, just to go down to Hell and see him, and there's not much that's holding me back. And of course I wasn't _flirting_ with Gabriel, I was just trying to do _something, _anything, to get my mind off of Lucifer. You think this is easy for me? You think I don't care about him? Well, I do. And I will never stop trying to get him back, even if he doesn't want to come back. Even if he doesn't want to see me again."

Maze stood there in silence for a moment, before embracing her friend. Chloe looked shocked, but she relaxed into Maze, the tears spilling over her cheeks. Maze felt slightly uncomfortable: hugging definitely wasn't her thing. But she could tell that Chloe needed it right now. She deserved some love.

But one word of Chloe's speech had resonated with her… _Gabriel. _Hadn't he introduced himself as Gabe? She remembered that Lucifer had a brother named Gabriel… that could hardly be a coincidence, him arriving the day after Lucifer left. What if another angel came down to Earth?

"Don't worry," she said, patting Chloe's back awkwardly. "I'm going to help you save Lucifer. But nobody's going to die because of it."

"Thank you," Chloe choked out. Maze smiled, and took a swig from one of the bottles before putting it back in the carboard box. She had some work ahead of her.

After sending an emotional Chloe back to her car, and instructing her to relax for a moment and think of nothing but herself, Maze stepped back in the elevator and rose up to the penthouse.

"Hello, Gabriel," she said scathingly as soon as the doors opened, but stopped short as she saw another familiar someone standing by him. Well, there was nothing familiar about this girl besides the large gray wings protruding from her back.

"Mazikeen," the new angel said as she swept her short brown hair out of her face. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Maze replied threateningly, spinning her demon knives around her hands as she stepped forwards. She pointed one at Gabriel. "Who the Hell are you?"

"Gabriel," he said. "I came down to Earth for a quick visit."

Maze scoffed, taking a couple steps closer while staring him down. "Very convenient timing there."

He sighed. "Look, Maze-"

"You can call me Mazikeen," she interuppted.

He persisted. "Mazikeen, I'm here to help Lucifer."

This was not the answer she expected. "Help Lucifer? But you're an angel." She turned to the other angel, whose wings had folded neatly back into her back. "And so are you."

"I'm Azrael," the angel said. "Nice to meet you."

Maze chewed on the inside of her cheek. She generally followed a very specific rule that served her quite well for years: angels equal enemies. She spun her knives around threateningly, but considered her options. Why were these two focused on helping Lucifer? What would they possibly have to gain?

"None of Lucifer's siblings ever visited him in Hell the first time around," Maze said, her voice shaking with anger. Sure, she and Lucifer had their differences, and she was usually angry at him, but she hated to see him abandoned and hurt. "What changed this time?"

"Well, I guess this time I didn't wait as long," Azrael said, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Last time I got kind of busy… I know that's no excuse, but I decided to do it better this time."

Maze turned to Gabriel. "And what about you? Why did you suddenly decide to help Lucifer?"

"Look…" Gabriel began. "After Lucifer's rebellion, I thought Father was right in sending him to Hell. But now I realize how unfair that was, and that Lucifer deserves better. And-" he cut himself off. "Yeah."

"Why should I trust either of you?" she demanded.

Azrael sighed. "Look, Maze, I just went down to Hell and talked to Lucifer. He's not doing too well. He's kind of given up. And I'm not going to let my favorite brother suffer like that anymore."

"He's your favorite brother?" Gabriel asked, clearly quite hurt.

Azrael looked uncomfortable. "I mean-"

"What did Lucifer say?" Maze asked. "Is he planning on coming back?"

Azrael shrugged. "He said he was originally planning on returning, but after being back down there he realized that… it was where he needed to be. He wasn't really willing to come with me to talk to God-"

"You want to talk to God?" Gabriel asked, and for some reason a smile crossed over his face. "Convince him to forgive Lucifer and stop his punishment?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Azrael asked, a little defensively.

_He was originally planning on returning_… but Chloe said that Amenadiel told her that Lucifer was never coming back to Earth. Had Amenadiel lied?

"Did Lucifer say anything about Amenadiel?" Maze asked Azrael slowly, ignoring the siblings' bickering.

"Well, he said that he was disappointed that Amenadiel hadn't come down to see him," Azrael said. "I was thinking that we could go talk to Amenadiel next, and try to recruit him into-"

"Yeah," said Maze, spinning her knives around in her hands again. "Let's go talk to Amenadiel."


	10. Chapter Ten: Dan

Dan whistled as he walked through the precinct, a little bounce in his step. For the first time since Charlotte died, he was feeling a bit more like himself. To make matters better, he hadn't seen Lucifer at all today: of course, he wouldn't bother showing up if Chloe wasn't here.

"Someone's in a good mood today," Ella remarked as Dan walked into the forensics lab. "What's up?"

"Today's just a good day," Dan said, still smiling as he bent down and examined the microscope. "Find anything?"

Ella sighed. "Nope. The prints on the knife came back with nothing."

"So the killer wiped it clean," Dan said, mostly to himself.

"Nuh-uh," Ella said. "When I say the prints came back with _nothing_, I mean they came back with _everything_. Literally everyone in that family laid hands on that knife."

"I guess that's to be expected," Dan said. "But not everybody lived in that house… just the grandfather and his nurse. So I guess I should talk to everyone about why they were touching that particular knife."

"I'll try to get more info on the poison," Ella said. "But it seems to be your basic poison: if a person swallows at least 10 grams, depending on their weight, they won't show symptoms for a couple of hours, before it reaches their heart, and they're dead within a couple of hours."

"But we still need to figure out why the killer stabbed and poisoned him," Dan said. "Maybe they weren't sure about the dosage?"

"Or maybe…" Ella pondered. "Dan! What if there were two killers?!"

"That's an idea," Dan said. "But what's the chances of the same dude getting hit twice in one night?"

"Worth looking into," Ella said, excited. "The poor dude must have had some serious family issues."

"If two people were trying to kill the same family member in the same night," Dan pondered, "Then there was probably something else going on. Either our victim was a real piece of work, or he was doing something that the family didn't like."

Ella shook her head. "I still can't imagine doing this to your family. I mean, my brothers and I fought all the time, but-"

"And our killers likely had very different plans," Dan interuppted, knowing that letting Ella get on a tangent about her family could cost them several hours. "Whoever poisoned Max planned this out carefully beforehand, but whoever stabbed him used a weapon of opportunity, and this was a crime of passion. So their motives could still be entirely different: the poisoner had been wanting to get rid of him for a long time, but our victim might have just said the wrong thing or… the stabber maybe found out something."

"Good thinking, Detective!" Ella said, pushing gently on Dan's arm.

"I should really go interrogate the family," Dan said, walking out the door. "But hey - thanks, for the help, Ella."

"No prob," Ella said with a smile. "I'm always here if you need me. I mean, not _always_ here, obviously, I don't live in the forensics lab, but if you ever need anything - like to talk about the case or really… anything at all, you know… I'm always here for you. I mean not just for you, really for anyone, but if you want to talk, I have ears. I mean-"

"Thanks, Ella," Dan said loudly. He couldn't really tell if something was up with Ella or not, she often acted like this. But he felt a familiar nagging feeling at the back of his mind as he walked out of the lab to go interrogate the family. He tried to push it out, leaving only room for the case.

"Tell me what happened at the reunion," he asked the first suspect: Max's mother.

She trembled slightly, leaning forward. "We have this reunion every year. Max hadn't come for the last couple of years, but-"

"Why didn't he come?" Dan interuppted.

She lifted her chin and looked Dan in the eye. The fire that had once danced in her eyes had been extinguished, wisps of smoke rising up as she crumbled from within. "Max is… was… a very strong-headed young man. He always had disagreements with everyone in the family, and would refuse to apoologize. Everyone was mad at him at some point or another. We hadn't invited him for years, not that he wanted to come."

"Hmm," said Dan. "And do-"

"But don't you think less of him because of it," she said fiercely. "My son did not deserve to die."

"I know," Dan said softly. "Of course he didn't. And everyone in our department is working tirelessly to find out whoever did this to him."

"Nobody in my family could have done this," she said. "I know everybody at that reunion, and I know that they are all good people."

"We just have to look into every possibility," Dan assured her. "We don't suspect anybody in the family, we just want to talk to you all. So. Was Max invited to this reunion?"

She shook her head.

_Then whoever poisoned him must have known he was coming, _Dan thought. _If this was planned beforehand, maybe he told someone that he was coming_.

"Did anyone know that he was coming?" Dan asked. "How did he know that the reunion was happening?"

"We always do it on the same day," she said, "And always at my father's house. And no, nobody knew he was coming. We had all just arrived when Max stormed in, sat in my father's chair at the head of the table, drank his favorite iced tead, and demanded that he be incorporated into the family again."

"So he was mad that he wasn't invited?" Dan asked.

She nodded. "He said that we needed to treat him like family and respect him. He said that he had changed, and came to make peace with everyone."

"Thank you for talking with me," said Dan. "And one more thing -" he pulled out the knife, which was in an evidence bag. "Did you touch this knife?"

She put a hand to her heart. "Is that… what killed him?"

"Yes," said Dan. "But he was also poisoned. Did you touch this knife?"

"That's the knife I used to cut the turkey," she said. "Pretty much everyone touched it during dinner."

"Okay," said Dan. "Thank you so much for talking with me. Please stay in town in case we have any more questions for you, and let us know if you remember something else."

"Thank you, Detective."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"All he wanted was the money."

"What money?" Dan asked. He was interrogating Max's older sister, Bianca. She sat in the chair, her leg pumping up and down, chewing on her gum aggressively as she leaned forwards. Her face, however, bore the mark of hours of crying and the unmistakable look of stress. Not unexpected for someone whose brother had just been murdered.

"The inheritance. Our grandfather, the one whose house the reunion was at, is loaded. I bet Max just wanted to make up with him so he wouldn't be cut out of the will."

"Is your grandfather sick?"

She paused for a moment, then nodded her head, chewing her gum even louder. "He has a bad heart. He might go any day now."

"I'm sorry," Dan said. "So you think Max just came for your grandfather?"

She nodded. "He hadn't talked to the rest of us in years. Not after he had this big blowout with our mother. They both said really hurtful stuff. She cried for days. And then he just showed up out of the blue, demanding that we talk to him again."

"Did anyone know he was coming?"

"No, we were all surprised to see him. Nobody had seen or heard from him in years."

Dan pulled out the knife again. "Who touched this knife during dinner? Or at any time?"

She thought for a moment. "I know I did. I think everybody did at some point, but I don't really remember."

"Thank you for your time, Bianca. Stay in town, and let us know if you remember anything else."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"That ungrateful little piece of shit just walked into the house like he owned the place," Max's uncle said aggressively, leaning back on two legs of his chair. "I mean, who does he think he is? He just stormed in there, and sat in my father's chair, and told us that we needed to respect him. Do you know who needs a lesson in respect? It's definitely not us. He was the one who hadn't called in years, who had never said a kind word to anyone in the family. I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, especially my nephew, but somebody did us all a favor."

"I see," said Dan. "So you had a lot of beef with him."

"Nothing I would _kill_ him over. I just disliked the boy, that's all."

"Did you or anybody else know that he was coming over?"

"Of course not. If I knew, I would have probably stayed home anyway. I mean, it was a nice dinner and all, but not worth it. And now I'm being questioned for the murder of my nephew? I mean, come on, Detective, do you really think any of us did it?"

"We don't have any suspects at this time," Dan said, knowing that he shouldn't accuse him directly. He needed all the information he could get. "We just have to be thorough. So Bianca said that Max probably came for your father's money."

He laughed. "For my father's money? That stubborn bastard has been alive for 96 years and counting. Healthy as an ox. The entire family has been waiting for our inheritance for the past decade, but it doesn't look like we'll ever get it."

"Did he have any heart problems or anything?"

He shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Like I said, healthy as an ox. Hasn't been sick a day in his life. He could probably run a marathon if you asked him to."

"Alright," said Dan. "Thank you for your cooperation. Make sure to stay in town, and let us know if you remember anything else."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Find anything?" Ella asked as Dan poured himself another cup of coffee. He was going to need the extra boost to get through this case.

He shook his head. "I still want to talk to a couple more of the people at the reunion… I don't think the mother did it, but the uncle could definitely have. And the sister… I don't know. She might have lied about the grandfather having heart problems, but maybe the uncle didn't know."

"Sounds like you got a good start," Ella remarked. "I still don't have any new info on the poison, though. It's pretty easy to get, any of them could have bought it."

"Great," sighed Dan. "Well, I think I'm going to head over to where the grandfather is staying and have a quick chat with him: apparently Bianca's taking care of him."

"I can go with you," Ella said automatically. "I mean, I don't have anything else to do right now, and I can help you do whatever, like if there's any evidence anywhere or anything you want me to bring back to the lab.

"Okay," Dan said hesitantly. Maybe Ella was acting a bit strangely. "We can ride together, if you want."

"Okay!" she basically screamed, before clearing her throat. "I mean, yeah, sure, whatever. Coolsies."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Mr. Torres?" Dan pounded on the door. "Bianca Stuart? Anybody home?"

After a minute or two, Bianca opened the door, her face red and flushed. "Oh, hello, Detective! And…"

"Hi, I'm Ella," Ella said, pulling Bianca into a tight hug.

"Right," she said, looking slightly disoriented. "And why are you here?"

"We're here to talk to your grandfather," Dan explained. "Is he here?"

"Come on in," she said breathlessly, opening the door wide for them.

The grandfather was sitting on the couch, a blanket draped over him, while the television blared across the room. "Bianca? Who's there?"

"The cops want to talk to you," she said, sitting down next to him. On the coffee table in front of the couch was a plate with a half eaten sandwich and a tall glass of iced tea.

"Is this about Max?" he asked, sadness creeping into his otherwise lively voice.

"I just wanted to ask you a couple quick questions," Dan said. "So… do you have any medical issues?"

"Medical issues?" he repeated. "Why? What does this have to do with-"

"I already told you," Bianca said hurriedly. "Now can you please leave us in peace? Our family's been through a lot."

Now this was getting suspicious. "Mr. Torres, do you have any heart problems?"

"Please leave," Bianca said, the color draining from her face. "These questions are irrelevant. My grandfather is trying to mourn the death-"

"No heart problems," he said. "I'm as healthy as an ox! And Bianca, don't worry, dear, the cops are just doing their jobs. Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Iced tea?"

"No, I-" Dan stopped for a moment, staring at the glass of iced tea. The pieces started to fit together: why Bianca lied about his heart issues, why Max was poisoned when nobody knew he was coming, and possibly why he was stabbed.

The grandfather lifted his glass of iced tea to his lips, about to take a sip, and Dan found himself yelling. "Don't drink that!"

He lowered the glass. "Why not?"

Dan stared up at Bianca, whose face was now completely white. Before he could do anything, she pulled a gun out from the inside of her coat pocket and pointed it at Dan with trembling hands.

"Put your gun on the floor," she said. "NOW!"

Dan slowly took his gun out of his belt and placed it on the carpet, sliding it over to Bianca. He couldn't bring himself to look at Ella. How could he drag her into this? She was unarmed, and untrained for this. If she was caught in the crossfire, he would never forgive himself.  
"You too," Bianca said, pointing the gun at Ella.

"I don't have one," she said, her voice an octave higher. "I'm not a cop, I work in forensics, and I just came to help-"

"Shut up!" Bianca yelled. "Go… go stand in the corner! Get away from me!"

"Bianca," her grandfather began. "What are you-"

"Shut up!" she shrieked. "You stupid old man, you should be dead by now!"

"You never meant to poison Max, did you?" Dan asked. "The real target was your grandfather."

Bianca's lip trembled. "My stupid brother always had the _worst _timing. How was I supposed to know he would come in and drink his tea?"

"You were trying to poison me?" he asked weakly. "Bianca, why would you-"

"You wanted the inheritance," Dan said. "Your grandfather was insanely healthy, and you needed your inheritance. You tried to make it look like a heart attack, which nobody would find suspicious at his age."

Bianca's lip trembled as her grandfather looked up at her, his eyes full of hurt. "I didn't want to!" she cried out. "I'm desperate. I owe someone a lot of money, and there was no other way!"

"You could have just asked," her grandfather told her. "I would have helped you, Bee."

She started crying harder. "I'm so sorry, Grandpa, I never wanted to hurt you."

"You can make this right," Ella said softly. Dan looked at her in surprise. "You don't have to hurt anybody else. Just put down the gun, and everybody in your family will be fine."

Bianca kept on crying. "But… but Max…"

"You never wanted to kill him," Dan said, following Ella's lead as he spoke with a soft, comforting voice. "It wasn't your fault that he drank the tea. And you had to kill him so that he wouldn't die of poisoning, which would ruin your plan to kill your grandfather."

"It wasn't my fault!" Bianca shrieked. "None of this was my fault!"

"Just put down the gun," Ella said. "You never wanted to hurt anyone, Bianca. This isn't you. We'll make sure you're safe from whoever you owe money to."

Sobbing, she lowered the gun. Dan sprung up and cuffed her arms behind her back, and she didn't resist at all. To his surprise, Ella stood up and hugged her.

"Family is everything," Ella said. "Remember that."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Nice work today, Ella," Dan said as they drove back to the precinct. "And I'm really sorry that you had to get caught up in that. It was stupid of me to bring you along."

"No, no, don't apologize," she said with a smile. "I'm glad I was there. Who knows what would have happened without me to help you out?"

"Oh please," said Dan. "I can handle an armed killer any day."

"I saw you shaking," Ella teased. "You were _terrified_."

"It wasn't me I was terrified for," he said. The two of them looked at each other for a minute, not breaking eye contact. Ella's hand was resting right next to Dan's elbow, and he took his right hand off the wheel and placed it on hers.

Dan turned back to the road, and Ella suddenly pulled her hand out from under his as if burned.

"I'm sorry," he said, and he truly meant it. "I know we said that this-"

"Don't be sorry," she said. "You know, Dan… I've been acting weird today."

"I thought something was up."

"A… friend of mine told me that I should go for what I want. And I thought I wanted you."

Dan let the words soak in for a bit, not sure of how to respond.

"I mean, you're great and everything, and I really thought I was attracted to you. Not that you're not attractive, of course, you're very-"

"I know what you mean," Dan said.

Ella looked relieved. "But I really appreciate having you as a friend, Dan. And I think what I was attracted to was the idea of dating again, but not necessarily being with you."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. And look, Ella, I am really sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No," said Ella forcefully. "Don't apologize. Neither of us need to apologize. We're adults, right? We can just work through this and be better friends than before."

"Yeah," said Dan with a smile. He wasn't sure how he had been feeling, but found that he was glad Ella brought this up. Sure, he was attracted to her, but they were really better off as friends. Just like Chloe and Lucifer: those two would never get together.

"Friends?" Ella asked.

"Friends," Dan agreed.


End file.
